LONDON, 1 October 2014 (IRIN) - Last month, a quiet announcement from UK
Home Secretary Theresa May dashed the hopes of thousands of asylum
seekers in the UK. A court ruling in April had criticized the very low
level of support it gives to those seeking asylum and had given her four
months to show how she had calculated that it would cover their needs.
The Home Office duly did its sums, but announced that the amount to be
paid would not increase.

The decision was a blow to campaigners who had brought the case to show
that asylum seekers were being forced to live in extreme poverty while
waiting for their applications to be processed.

Dave Garratt, the chief executive of Refugee Action, the organization
which took the Home Secretary to court, told IRIN that asylum seekers
were coming through their doors, telling them that they were really
struggling to survive. But the campaigners did at least force the Home
Office to give an account of how the asylum seekers’ allowance -
currently just over £5 a day for a single adult - was calculated.

“Essentially what they have done,” says Garratt, “is base it on the
expenditure of the lowest 10 percent of people in the UK. But we think
that is quite flawed, because that is about expenditure, not about need,
and many of those people have other help, from family and friends. It
doesn't take account of the special circumstances of asylum seekers who
may arrive without clothes or shoes, and have no stored food to fall
back on. We still think it is not high enough, but now we have the
analysis written down, at least we have something we can debate about,
and the formula will have to be re-applied every year so they can show
they are doing their job properly.”

One of the most blistering critiques of the system had come from the
London-based organization, Freedom from Torture, which provides medical
and psychological support to the victims of torture. They received 1,251
new referrals of torture survivors last year, from 80 countries; the
vast majority had sought asylum in the UK. Rhian Beynon, the
organization's spokesperson, told IRIN: “The failure of the Home Office
to increase the current asylum support levels is a missed opportunity
and the effects will be felt by some of the most vulnerable people
living in the UK today.”

Torture survivors suffer most

In its own report
on the way poverty was affecting torture survivors seeking asylum,
Freedom from Torture drew on the experiences of its clients and those
who work with them to paint a bleak picture of what happens to torture
victims who reach the UK and embark on the arduous process of getting
refugee status. “I am exhausted,” says one client, “living with this
day by day. I am running out of stamina to deal with the pain.” “Our
current living conditions keep our torture trauma still alive,” says
another. “We can't move on.”

The system is difficult for anyone applying for asylum, but one of the
organizations' clinicians described vividly how torture survivors suffer
more than most. “You’re constantly trying to manage intrusive memories
or thoughts. When you do sleep, it’s… disturbed by violent
nightmares.... and lots of things can trigger flashbacks or at the very
least, painful memories. Having to manage all of that - which is what
our clients manage - plus the profound uncertainty of what you’re going
to eat and where you’re going to go and how you’re going to get there,
you know… I’m stating the obvious, but it’s much more difficult for
torture survivors.”

British immigration law prohibits asylum seekers from working legally,
the purported rationale being that allowing applicants to work would
blur the line between asylum applicants and economic migrants, and
thereby serve as a “pull factor.” Around 11 other EU states do allow
asylum seekers to work - if only six months after their arrival - and
such policies do not appear to increase the number of asylum
applicants. British government policy, critics suggest, is driven more by misperceptions of public opinion on the right to work than by empirical evidence.

Restricted benefits

A single adult asylum seeker's allowance is currently only just over 50
percent of the benefit known as “income support” - in itself considered
the minimum needed to lead an adequate life. In cases where an initial
asylum request has been refused and a destitute applicant is waiting for
the result of an appeal, or has agreed to return to their country of
origin but is unable to do immediately, the allowance, known as Section 4
support, is no longer paid in cash, but loaded onto a “Azure card”.
This can only be used at designated shops, for food and a limited range
of other items. The recipient has no money for anything else - bus
fares, postage, faxing documents or any of the other expenses needed to
pursue his claim.

The British Red Cross recently called for the Azure card system to be abolished, saying in a detailed report
that it did “not allow refused asylum seekers to meet their basic needs
and live with dignity. It creates unnecessary suffering for people who
are already in desperate situations.”

Accommodation provided to asylum seekers is also very basic - often
hostel-style or shared accommodation. These shared houses can also be
used for people with other social needs - people newly released from
jail or struggling with drug or alcohol problems, which makes some
torture survivors feel very nervous and unsafe.

The UK is also somewhat ungenerous compared with its western European
neighbours. In the Netherlands, for instance, asylum seekers receive the
same benefits as any other needy resident. France, Germany, Belgium and
Italy have similar systems to the UK, but pay higher levels of support.
And most countries are less restrictive than the UK about allowing
asylum seekers to work and support themselves.

Freedom From Torture reports that poverty and anxiety are seriously
compromising the ability of their clients to recover from their
experiences. The low level of support means that they are not just
relatively poor by British standards, but absolutely poor. More than
half of the 85 torture survivors who responded to a questionnaire said
they were never, or not often, able to buy enough of the right food for a
nutritionally balanced diet. Thirty-four said they were never, or not
often, able to buy enough food of any kind to satisfy their hunger.

The worst off were the clients with Azure cards, who could only buy at
designated shops - mostly mid-priced supermarkets - rather than in the
cheaper discount supermarkets or at market stalls. In one of the
designated shops the cheapest form of minced meat now costs £3.75 a
kilo, a tin of tuna is 95 pence and a 300gram piece of plain cheese £2.
Apples are now in season and abundant, but four apples cost a pound. The
daily allowance of around £5 does not go far.

The doctors and therapists treating torture survivors say hunger and
poor diet “negatively affects their clients’ mental and physical health,
their mood, their cognition and concentration and their ability to
engage fully in therapy and counselling sessions.” The problem is
especially acute for those still suffering the physical effects of their
ill treatment. Said one respondent: “The doctor says I have to eat a
lot of protein but I cannot afford to, so I'm always weak. I faint. One
time I fainted at Freedom from Torture.”

Another problem is warm clothes. It is hard on this level of income to
save enough for new shoes or winter clothing. Charity shops, which sell
good quality second hand garments, are useful but of little help to the
Azure card holders, who can only use those run by the Salvation Army or
the Red Cross - no help if the only charity shop within walking distance
belongs to Oxfam. Card holders are also prevented from saving because
they are not allowed to accumulate a surplus on the card - anything more
than £5 disappears at the end of each week.

Cold, hungry and isolated

So torture survivors are cold and hungry, and have no money for anything
beyond bare necessities. Unable to visit friends, take part in social
activities or even get to their church, mosque or temple, they get
isolated and depressed and their recovery is set back still further.
They are also often stressed by the asylum application process itself,
which is extremely complicated. Missed appointments, and anything else
seen as lack of cooperation can lead to a stoppage of benefits. Changes
in circumstance can lead to gaps and delays in payments. Freedom from
Torture recounts cases of torture survivors being left totally
destitute, sleeping in the street or on night buses and searching for
discarded food to eat.

Ironically the very point at which asylum seekers finally succeed in
getting refugee status can be one of the most difficult moments.
Temporary support stops four weeks after that status is granted. The
refugee can now work and is eligible for normal welfare benefits, but
has just one month to find new accommodation and get a job, or else
negotiate a whole new set of form filling, interviews and bureaucratic
requirements. Doctors and therapists interviewed for the Freedom from
Torture's report said: “There’s nothing worse for our clients than
thinking all your problems have ended because you get ‘status’ and then
becoming homeless.” For some, they said, this is the most difficult time
of all, and the point where they finally break down.

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